U.S. patent number 5,323,240 [Application Number 08/011,422] was granted by the patent office on 1994-06-21 for television receiver that automatically keeps track of favorite channels to facilitate tuning.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Sony Corporation. Invention is credited to Toshio Amano, Mitsumasa Saitoh.
United States Patent |
5,323,240 |
Amano , et al. |
June 21, 1994 |
Television receiver that automatically keeps track of favorite
channels to facilitate tuning
Abstract
A TV receiver has a tuner and a controller for controlling a
tuning operation of the tuner. The controller includes a
calculation unit for effecting a calculation of preferred stations
using as parameters tuned channels and the times for which the
channels are selected. A tuning frequency arrangement storing unit
determines the channels that are frequently watched by a user on
the basis of the calculation and stores indications of the
channels. The channel indications thus stored are read out in
ranked order to perform a tuning operation in response to
successive actuation of a preferred-station key.
Inventors: |
Amano; Toshio (Kanagawa,
JP), Saitoh; Mitsumasa (Kanagawa, JP) |
Assignee: |
Sony Corporation (Tokyo,
JP)
|
Family
ID: |
13018554 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/011,422 |
Filed: |
January 29, 1993 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 7, 1992 [JP] |
|
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4-056132 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
348/731; 348/734;
348/E5.097; 455/181.1; 455/186.1; 725/139; 725/14; 725/142; 725/38;
725/56 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
5/50 (20130101); H03J 1/0008 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H03J
1/00 (20060101); H04N 5/50 (20060101); H04N
005/50 () |
Field of
Search: |
;358/191.1,193.1,194.1,84 ;455/186.1,186.2,185.1,2,181.1 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Groody; James J.
Assistant Examiner: Murrell; Jeffery S.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Eslinger; Lewis H. Maioli; Jay
H.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A TV receiver having a tuner and a controller for controlling a
tuning operation of the tuner, wherein said controller includes a
calculation unit for effecting a calculation if preferred station
using as parameters a tuned channel and a time for which the
channel is selected, and tuning frequency arrangement storing means
for determining a channel which is frequently watched by a user on
the basis of said calculation, and storing an indication of the
channel in said tuning frequency arrangement storing means, the
channel indication stored in said tuning frequency arrangement
storing means being read out to perform said tuning operation when
a preferred-station key provided in said TV receiver is pushed.
2. A TV receiver according to claim 1 wherein:
said calculation unit effects a calculation of a plurality of
preferred stations;
said tuning frequency arrangement storing means determines a
plurality of channels which are frequently watched and stores
respective indications thereof; and
said indications are read out in ranked order in response to
successive actuations of said preferred-station key.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a television (TV) receiver, and
particularly to a TV receiver in which information based on a
user's life style can be obtained
2. Description of Conventional Technique
A present TV receiver has been frequently used in such a manner
that a channel selecting operation of selecting a desired one of
many broadcasting channels such as VHF broadcasting stations. UHF
broadcasting stations, BS broadcasts from a broadcasting satellite,
etc. is carried out so as to be matched with a user's life
style.
That is a viewer's favorite broadcast channels (channels which are
more frequently used by a viewer) tend to be fixed according to
time and circumstances in accordance with an individual life style.
For example some viewers provide a high audience rating to an A
station which frequently broadcasts baseball games of their
favorite team when a professional baseball pennant race is started,
and some viewers watch, without missing a single day, a sumo
wrestling program of a B station which broadcasts the program
everyday.
Here, the following situation is considered. After switching a TV
receiver on, a viewer having such a life style watches a gardening
program of another broadcasting station (i.e., a station which is
not his favorite station), and a time for a sumo wrestling program
which he watches everyday has come. If he does not beforehand
preset a broadcast channel of the sumo wrestling program in the TV
receiver or if a preset operation itself is impossible because the
number of preset broadcast channels is already equal to the
permissible number, he can not watch the sumo wrestling program
unless a current channel is switched over through a position
tuning, a direct tuning or a skip tuning operation.
In such a situation, if he searches a desired channel through a
channel UP key or a channel DOWN key, the search operation is very
cumbersome when the target channel is far from the current channel,
and if he searches a desired channel through ten keys, the search
operation is very inconvenient because the number of the target
channel is unknown.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is implemented to overcome the above problem, and a
TV receiver of this invention is equipped in a controller thereof
with a calculation unit for constantly calculating a tuning
frequency of a broadcast channel using as a parameter a time for
which the channel is selected, and tuning frequency arrangement
storing means for arranging and setting channels in order from
higher tuning frequency to lower tuning frequency, and further
equipped with a "my station" or preferred-station key, that is, a
Favorite-key (hereinafter referred to as "F key") so that a channel
can be automatically switched over by pushing the F key in
tuning-frequency order.
Since the broadcast channels which would be habitually frequently
used by a viewer are arranged and stored in tuning frequency order
into the memory in the controller, it is not necessary to preset a
frequently-used channel, and the number of rankings in tuning
frequency can be increased by increasing memory capacity, so that
broadcast channels from first to tenth ranking of tuning frequency
or more can be successively displayed and selected.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of this
invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a part of the controller 5 of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for a memory process of tuning frequency in
the embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for channel selection by the F key in the
embodiment of this invention; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a screen on which channel rankings
are displayed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A first embodiment of this invention will be described with
reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a television
receiver according to this invention. In FIG. 1, a reference
numeral 1 represents an antenna terminal, a reference numeral 2
represents an external input terminal, a reference numeral 3
represents a TV tuner for selecting a received radio wave, a
reference numeral 4 represents an intermediate frequency amplifier,
a reference numeral 5 represents an image processing unit, a
reference numeral 10 represents a character generator for
outputting a character signal, a reference numeral 9 represents a
controller for controlling the operation of each of the units as
described above, and a reference numeral 6 represents an operating
unit which is provided on a panel of the television receiver to
enable a viewer to adjust a channel sound volume, etc. An F key is
provided in the operation unit 6 or an operation button of a remote
commander to select a program which is frequently watched by the
viewer (hereinafter referred to as "viewer's favorite program"). A
reference numeral 7 represents an infrared-rays detector which is
provided in correspondence to the remote commander at the external
side, a reference numeral 8 represents a demodulating unit, a
reference numeral 11 represents a synthesizing circuit for
synthesizing a video signal and a character signal, and a reference
numeral 12 represents a Braun tube. A scanning circuit, an audio
circuit, etc. are omitted.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of functions related to the F key in the
control unit 9 of the TV receiver according to this invention. In
FIG. 2, a reference numeral 9a represents a time counting circuit
for counting a time interval of the operation of the channel key, a
reference numeral 9b represents a grade circuit for calculating the
grade of a selected channel on the basis of the time counted by the
time counting circuit 9a, a reference numeral 9c represents a sort
circuit for sorting the channels ranked by the grade circuit 9b in
ascending order, a reference numeral 9d represents a rank memory
circuit for storing ranks sorted by the sort circuit 9c, and a
reference numeral 9e represents an FK (F key) time counting circuit
for counting a time interval of tile operation of the F key.
The TV receiver according to this invention is equipped with the
circuit blocks as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that like an ordinary
TV receiver a power on/off operation, a selecting operation of a
broadcasting station, sound volume adjustment can be also performed
by, for example, a remote commander.
In the TV receiver according to this invention, the counting of a
TV watching time is started from the time when a broadcasting
station is tuned and a TV watching state for the broadcasting
station is judged to start, tuning frequencies indicating total
watching times of the respective broadcasting stations are
collected, and then those channels which are frequently selected in
everyday life are ranked on the basis of the collection data, so
that the tuning operation of the broadcasting stations is
successively carried out by a single F key.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for a series of processings for storing a
tuning frequency when a channel key is manipulated.
First, when a channel key (hereinafter referred to as "Ch key") is
input (manipulated) during the actuation of the TV receiver, an
input channel is displayed (F10), and a count time in the time
counting circuit 9a is cleared (F11). Thereafter, the time counting
operation is started to count a watching time for the input channel
until the F key or another channel key (F12) is input. The time
counting circuit 9a is cleared when powered on, and its counting
operation is started.
If the input of the F key or Ch key is judged (F13), the time
counting circuit 9a ceases its time counting operation (F14), and
the grade circuit 9b calculates the grade of a channel just before
the input of the F key or Ch key on the basis of the watching time
serving as a parameter which is counted by the time counting
circuit 9a (F15). The sort circuit 9b re-sorts the renewed grade of
the channel in ascending order (F16).
The renewed ranking of the channel is stored in the memory circuit
9d every renewing operation (F17). About ten rankings may be stored
in the memory, however, the rankings of all channels may be stored
in the memory.
As described above, the steps of F10 to F17 of the flowchart as
shown in FIG. 3 are repeated every manipulation of the F key or Ch
key to thereby enable the renewing operation of the ranking stored
in the memory circuit 9d.
The operation flow of selecting a channel from the memory circuit
9d with the F key will be described with reference to a flowchart
of FIG. 4.
First, upon input of the F key, it is judged whether a watching
time counted by the FK counting circuit 9e exceeds a predetermined
time x which is beforehand set (F21). If the count time is judged
to exceed the time x, a first-ranking channel is selected (F23) to
display the channel on a screen (F27), the FK counting circuit 9e
is cleared (F28), and then the time counting operation is started
again (F29). The FK time counting circuit 9e starts its time
counting operation at the time when power is on.
If the watching time counted by the FK counting circuit 9e is
judged not to exceed the predetermined time x (F21), when the
currently-displayed channel ranks first, the first ranking channel
is displayed with no alteration (F27), and the FK time counting
circuit 9e is cleared (F28) to start the time counting operation
again. Alternately, it may be adapted to display the second ranking
channel when the currently-displayed channel ranks first.
If the watching time counted by the FK time counting circuit 9e
does not exceed the predetermined time x (F21) and the
currently-displayed channel is not the first ranking channel, the
next ranking channel just below the currently-displayed channel is
selected (F24). In a case where the number of the rankings of the
channels which are stored in the memory circuit 9d are about ten
rankings and the ranking of the currently-displayed channel is the
tenth ranking channel which is the lowest ranking channel (F25),
the ranking is returned to the first ranking (F26), then the
channel of the first ranking is displayed on the screen (F27), and
then the watching time counted by the FK time counting circuit 9e
is cleared (F28) to start the time counting operation until the
next F key input is carried out again (F29).
As described above, the operation of the flowchart as shown in FIG.
4 is repeated every manipulation of the F key, so that the
broadcasting stations are successively selected in the order from a
higher grade of tuning frequency to a lower grade of tuning
frequency.
Accordingly, through the random input operation of a Ch key to
select a channel, the grade of the tuning frequency of the channel
is extracted, and the received channel is memorized while ranked.
These memorized channels are successively selected by the input of
the F key without a presetting operation by the viewer and without
the viewer's paying attention to the number of stations to be
memorized.
Since an F channel (Favorite-Ch) is randomly selected in accordance
with its ranking, a list of the rankings may be displayed in a LIST
mode in OSD10 as shown in FIG. 5 so that the viewer can check the
F-channel state at a glance.
As described above, according to the TV receiver of this invention,
in an ordinary use mode, a trend of a viewer's audience rating is
checked in terms of his channel watching time, and his favorite
watching (using) channel is stored in the tuning frequency
arrangement storing means. In addition, the stored watching
channels are successively selected in ranking order thereof by
merely pushing the F key. Therefore, a cumbersome operation of
beforehand storing viewer's favorite channels which has been
conventionally required can be omitted. Further, the number of
channels to be stored can be increased from the number of
conventionally-adopted memory channel (about two three stations) to
about 15 stations by increasing storage capacity of the memory
circuit serving as the tuning frequency arrangement storing means,
so that these stations can be successively selected through the F
key by ranking many broadcast channels containing the BS broadcast
and so on.
* * * * *